Bigotry Determined Webster’s New
World Dictionary defines “bigot” as “a person who holds blindly and
intolerantly to a particular creed, opinion, etc.” and “bigotry” as “the
behavior, attitude, or beliefs of a bigot.”

Police State Thomas Kachadurian’s column might get the facts right but misses the story.

Oppose The Shell Game Is this a
Shell Game? As a Democrat, I support increased taxes on motor fuels and
vehicles to provide funding for our transportation infrastructure.

Sugars On The Way Senator Patrick
Colbeck from Canton introduced a bill and the Senate passed it allowing
schools and Girl & Boy Scout troops to have up to 3 bake sales per
week.

Elections are a beautiful thing

Elections are a beautiful thingThank God thats over.Our windstorms of a couple weeks ago were little more than lightbreezes compared to the hot air spewed by politicians of all stripesthe last six months. Their television and radio ad barrages haveboth insulted our intelligence and tried our patience.The commercials and mailings produced by state and national partyorganizations were especially onerous, equaled in poor taste only bythose financed by the third party groups with the harmless soundingnames and mysterious billionaire contributors.Hard as it might be to believe, several states featured campaigns farnastier than what we saw in Michigan. California, Nevada, Alaska,Colorado, Pennsylvania and Delaware all had races that plumbed thedepths of campaign negativity, reached the bottom and just kept ondigging.And then there was the race for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. Oh, dear. The Republican, Mark Kirk, who won and will assume Barack Obamas oldseat, spent most of the campaign trying to explain why he had liedoutrageously about his military service. The Democrat, AlexiGiannoulias, had to explain why he did just fine financially despitethe collapse of his familys bank and why he had borrowed money from acouple of guys with, well, lets call it unsavory connections.Republicans now have a solid majority after an historic victory in theHouse but it will not be veto proof, making it extremely difficult forthe more strident newcomers to repeal Obamacare or fiddle with SocialSecurity or cut much government spending. The rift in the Republicanparty between entrenched conservatives and the new breed offire-breathing, anti-government tea partiers and their supporters willnot help their cause. We could well be witness to a three-way battle;Democrats versus Republicans versus tea party Republicans.Well soon find out if the right is as impatient and fickle as theleft has proven to be. The traditional honeymoon period once enjoyedby newly elected officeholders may last about 15 seconds with thisgroup. In fact, though Republicans dominated the midterms at recordlevels, the pollsters tell us people dont like them any better thanthey like Democrats, which isnt much.If the public expects rapid and dramatic changes, which they will notget, the grief will now fall onto the GOP. The demands of ideologicalpurity from the extremes of both parties, and the accompanyingpresumption that they deserve 100% of what they want, is moredestructive to progress than helpful.We can hope both sides will now recognize the folly of theirabsolutism and decide to actually work together. Not likely but wecan hope.The Democrats, who have maintained a slim majority in the Senate, arenow gravely debilitated. They were victims of circumstances, some oftheir own making and some not, and their own ineptitude, unable tocoherently define the direction they wanted to lead us and unwillingto defend those actions they did take.

Republicans did a tremendous job of defining the issues and placingblame. They convinced a majority of Americans to believe the stimulusprogram has failed and the bailouts were unnecessary. (Most economistsdisagree, claiming it is far too soon to judge the stimulus and thebailouts prevented an economic cataclysm far beyond what were nowexperiencing.)More importantly, the Republicans laid both the bailout and stimulusspending directly on the doorstep of the timid Democrats despite thefact that both programs began under George W. Bush. And theRepublicans, quite rightly, brought the trillion dollar plus annualdeficits into the debate early and often.Democrats, on the other hand, did a horrible job of defendingthemselves. Traditionally confused in the best of circumstances, theymumbled and fumbled and made excuses for themselves while theiropponents beat them senseless with rapid-fire rhetoric thatsuper-glued them to every catastrophe imaginable and some that arenot. They had no justification for the outlandish deficits becausenone exist.The bad news is weve gone through another election cycle without muchdiscussion of real issues or practical solutions. Virtually everycampaign for every office at every level quickly devolved into a shinkicking contest full of vitriolic nonsense, half-truths and outrightfabrications. We deserve better but seem unwilling to demand better.Also disheartening was the voter turnout. Its hard to believe, giventhe importance and potential consequences of this election, that lessthan 60% of Michigans eligible voters bothered to show up.The good news is weve survived another election cycle. Americanelections are a beautiful thing. Men and women of all races,religions and beliefs, dutifully standing in line awaiting their turn,some with their children in tow to share the experience. Volunteersworking long shifts to make sure the process worked smoothly andefficiently and it did. No gun-toting troops needed.When our new leaders are sworn in and take office in January, despitea dramatic shift in power, the transition will be smooth and peacefuland well continue marching forward. The losers will accept theirfate, some less gracefully than others, and the battle for 2012 willbegin. It is a system unique in the world. Despite it all, our United States is a majestic place.